28. Red

These are tomatoes from the plants on our back porch. I said I would count it as a success if they bore fruit, and they have, so I guess, technically, it's a success.

Tomato Harvest

They are yummy. However, the plants look pathetic, so I'm not sure we will get any more than the 14 we've picked and the few that are still turning red. I didn't take a picture of the plants because there's no need to document in photographs how truly bad at growing things I am. I think I just don't care enough, or gardening doesn't interest me enough. Something just isn't enough, and their priority assignment is rather low on my list of things that need doing.

I'd like to say that I probably won't try this again next year, but I doubt that's true because I'll forget by next Spring and because the kids are so excited about it. They've been checking on the progress every few days and now that the tomatoes are turning red, they want to pick them and wash them. Ella is good about only picking the really red ones. Man Cub brought me one that was half yellow last night, so we had to have a conversation about waiting a little bit longer until they are red all the way around. We'll see if it took. So, yeah, I'll try to grow tomatoes again next year; I'll even attempt to keep these alive and growing for the rest of this year, but I'm kind of over it.

The citronella plant is big and beautiful, apparently not taking objection to being mostly ignored, but it doesn't do much to keep the mosquitos away. In its defense, we do have supernatural mosquitos around our house - the kind that drink Deep Woods OFF for breakfast.

As for the rest of the vegetables I planted, something is eating them. I spray them, but they are still being eaten. One of the bell pepper plants was full of blooms one day, and all but one were gone the next. The other plant actually has some tiny bell peppers on it right now, so we'll see how they do. Every squash and zucchini blossom gets eaten before it can open. I suspect deer. The okra is pitiful, but hanging in there, and the cucumber has a few tiny cucumbers on it. I don't think those plants get enough sun where they are, either, and that's just going to be an issue in my yard.

I guess this means we'll just continue to buy our vegetables, and of course, off load any fresh ones that those with greener thumbs than mine are trying to place in a good home.